


Kiss of Life (Read The Fine Print)

by Auggusst



Series: Alternate Universes [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) - Alternate 2012 Timeline, Banter, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Fluff, Humor, Insecurity, Loki shenanigans, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Pining, Thor has magic, Tony Stark Hates Magic, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, clingy tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24296839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Auggusst/pseuds/Auggusst
Summary: Steve almost dies, and Thor uses his magic to heal him. Unfortunately, it comes with a little side effect: Whoever Thor heals temporarily falls in love with him. Naturally, Tony's quite distraught that his boyfriend has seemingly forgotten all about their relationship, and poor Bucky Barnes unwillingly lends an ear for the duration of his plight.[Fic written for @in-umbra-gratia on Tumblr.]New chapter added June 16 2020!
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Alternate Universes [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703173
Comments: 26
Kudos: 291





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Listen alternate 2012 is a good place. Less trauma and more shenanigans. Good for everybody.

When Thor mentioned his healing powers had …side effects, Tony never could’ve anticipated this. It was a split second decision to have Thor heal Steve—they were too far away from medical and time was running out. Of course Tony told the god “Do whatever you have to do!” without bothering to listen to the consequences. He loved Steve. He _needed_ Steve to live, to be okay. They’d only been together for half a year. He wanted more time with Steve, more hours, days and years, and he wasn’t going to let them get snatched away.

That being said, it was a little strange to see the Asgardian lean down and give Steve a literal kiss of life. Maybe under other circumstances, Tony would’ve found it kind of hot, but right now, with the blond bleeding from multiple wounds and his skin pale and clammy, Tony didn’t have any time for lewd thoughts. Thor scooped Steve up, and carried him to the jet. The rest of the team was staying behind to finish the mission. Tony let JARVIS handle the return flight, stayed by Steve’s side the entire way home. He hadn’t woken up yet, and he’d need some bandaging still, but Thor’s magic had stabilized him. He wasn’t bleeding anymore. Tony was prepared for something horrible, hadn’t forgotten that Thor mentioned side effects.

He could’ve never anticipated Steve awakening from his newly-healed injuries to turn and look at Thor, and to give him the biggest, dreamiest smile in the world, and to pull him into a hug that was much too clingy to be considered platonic. Tony tried to shrug it off—maybe Steve was still a little out of it, simply couldn’t control his inhibitions yet, so Tony did the natural thing and surged forward, pulled his boyfriend into a hug and pressed a kiss to his hair.

Steve though, he stiffened up, pulled back immediately and gave Tony a look that was a mix between concerned and uncomfortable. “Uh—Tony—?”

“Honey I was so worried about you! Are you okay?”

“ _Honey_?” Steve asked, raising a brow. “Why are you calling me that?”

Tony blinked at him. His tone of voice, the confusion on his face…Steve hadn’t looked at him like that in a long time, not since before they were dating.

“What do you mean why am I calling you that? I always call you that.”

Steve squinted at him in confusion. “You’ve _never_ called me that. It’s always ‘Capsicle,’ or ‘Spangles’ or just plain ‘Rogers.’ What’s gotten into you?” he asked.

What was going on? Was Steve playing a trick on him? It wasn’t funny. Tony looked him over, tried to gauge his seriousness. Unfortunately, it seemed Steve was 100% serious. He seemed a little annoyed, honestly, his jaw set in the way it always was whenever Tony walked into the room long ago, the way it was when they all first moved into the Tower and—

Oh. Tony _hated_ magic.

He turned and looked at Thor incredulously, who merely shrugged as if to say ‘I tried to tell you.’

Tony’s attention snapped back to Steve, and he did his best to pass it all off as a joke (though he wasn’t sure Steve was convinced) and snatched Thor by the arm, pulling him out of the recovery room.

“Uh—explain? Now?” the brunet demanded as the door swung shut behind him.

Thor sighed. “I tried to tell you before, my magic can have this effect on people. It tends to make them fall in love with me. It’s Loki’s fault—he put this spell on me a few hundred years ago thinking it was hilarious to see half the guard head-over-heels in love with me. I haven’t figured out how to break it yet.”

“So let me get this straight—not only does Steve not remember that he’s in love with me, but he’s in love with _you?!_ ”

“Yup.”

Tony rubbed his temple. He could feel his blood pressure rising. “Okay, that’s—How long does this last? _Please_ tell me it’s not permanent, because if I have to go back to calling him Rogers and pretending that I’m not desperately in love with him I’m going to have another heart attack.”

The god squinted, trying to think it over. It’d been a while since he had run into this situation. “Mm, four or so days. Of course, that was for Asgardians, maybe it’s a little longer for humans? I’m not quite sure what—“

“Four days?” Tony repeated, grimacing. He took a breath. “Okay. Let’s say, optimistically, four days. Because if it lasts any longer I’m probably going to lose my mind.”

“I tried to tell you, but you were too hysterical to—“

“I was _not_ hysterical!” Tony insisted. “My boyfriend was dying. Of course I wasn’t going to take the time to read the fine print!”

Thor put a hand on his shoulder. “Alright, just calm down. I will rebuff his advances and you’ll pretend you’re not together, and in four days we’ll laugh about the whole thing. You’ll see! Truly, it’s not the end of the world.”

“Easy for you to say,” Tony sighed. “You don’t know what it’s like to kiss him!”

Tony was, understandably, pretty clingy when it came to Steve. He loved the soldier with all his heart, had a difficult time spending more than 24 hours apart. Steve made him happy, happier than he could’ve imagined, given their rocky introduction, and he was loathe to let go of even a fraction of that happiness. How was he supposed to survive four days without Steve being his?

Steve obviously thought, for the time being, that their relationship had never developed past rudimentary friendship, that they’d never confessed their feelings, that they’d never been together at all. How could that be? Could he remember any of it at all? Or was there a haze over his brain, shrouding his memories? Tony wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. He took a breath, tried to prepare himself for this ordeal. It wouldn’t be easy.

“Don’t worry,” Thor replied. “You’ll have your Captain back soon enough.”

Soon enough couldn’t come soon enough.

The rest of the team, well, they thought the whole thing was hilarious naturally, when they came home. Clint especially got a kick out of the whole thing, particularly the childlike pout permanently plastered on Tony’s face. It was harder than he thought it’d be, keeping his distance from Steve. It was also really hard watching the blond gaze longingly after Thor, seeing the way his face went red when he spoke to the god, the way his face used to go red for Tony. Steve didn’t admit his (temporary) feelings for Thor, and somehow that made it all the more painful, because he was so clearly pining. Tony couldn’t deny he was jealous. Of course he was jealous—that was his man! Going to sleep the first night, entirely alone and without a goodnight kiss put him in more than a foul mood.

By the next morning, he was sure he was going to lose his mind.

Bucky, in turn, was sure he’d already lost it.

He thought it’d be funny, at first, seeing Steve chase after Thor. That was, until it was clear that he’d be saddled with Tony for the duration of the spell.

Tony had been equal parts welcoming and suspicious of Bucky at first. Luckily, Steve had told him a long time ago about his parents, so the brunet had more or less processed it all before he even came face to face with Bucky. Thanks to a tip off from…Loki? Steve from the future? Some cosmic fluke? They’d found out about him, and Hydra’s plans in general, pretty quickly. The week Loki came to earth was a strange one, for sure. Between finding and losing the Tesseract, Tony’s impromptu heart attack, and a dozen other strange events, it was a wonder the team had survived it all. But they had, and everyone was doing well more or less, and that included Bucky.

It took Tony a long time to warm up to Barnes joining the team regardless, but he’d gotten the help he needed, was more or less back to his old self, and nothing like the brainwashed killing machine that had terminated Tony’s parents. Steve got his way after bribing Tony with a frankly spectacular evening in the bedroom, and the next day, Barnes had a bedroom set up in the Tower and was joining the rest of them during a team briefing. Bucky wasn’t Tony’s favorite to be around, to hang out with, and sometimes they butted heads, but once the rest of the team caught wind of the current events, they more or less cleared out, no doubt in order to avoid Tony talking their ears off in complaint.

Bucky wasn’t so lucky. In fact, he was getting his ears talked off on two fronts. Steve constantly talked about Thor when they were together, asked advice or simply gushed, couldn’t seem to help it really, and oppositely, whenever Steve disappeared Tony would take his place, whining about how much he missed Steve and how stupid magic was. Bucky had never enjoyed being the middle man, unless it involved two beautiful girls on an evening out, but damn, he was starting to hate magic too now. He had half a mind to tell both Tony _and_ Steve to buzz off, especially when they hit the fourth day mark, and nothing had changed. The hours passed, and Steve still regarded Tony as nothing more than a teammate, kept his attention focused on Thor. He’d even _drawn_ the god, which, to be fair, he drew everyone on the team, but judging by the way he tried to hide the sketches, he was doing the drawings out of love.

Bucky was more than a little irritated when he set foot in the kitchen, intent on grabbing himself a little midnight snack(he preferred going to the kitchen when others were less likely to be there. He still found himself preferring privacy more than before, especially with this week’s flow of events) only to see Tony sitting on a stool by the kitchen island, his shoulders slumped and arms curled in on himself, a half-melted bowl of ice cream sitting in front of him. It was a little unclear from this angle, but Bucky thought he could hear some sniffling.

He’d never seen Tony cry before. Well, he’d seen him cry at movies, or silly things like that, but he’d never seen him _cry_. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was crying about. Apparently, he really didn’t take well to everything that was going on. That was fair, Bucky supposed. The fourth day had come and gone, and Steve still wasn’t back to normal. Thor had assured them (while the blond was out for a morning run) that it would all sort itself out soon, that there was nothing to worry about, but Tony clearly worried. He’d hardly gotten any sleep the last few nights. The bed was big and felt empty without Steve in it.

The absence of Steve wasn’t really the worst part though, it was the uncertainty, the fact that he didn’t know when it would come to an end, that bothered him so much. He couldn’t help but feel like it would never end. What would happen if Steve never remembered his feelings for Tony? How could he carry on without the love of his life? He wasn’t sure he’d be able to win Steve over a second time, not when his eye was magically turned towards Thor. It was terrifying, honestly.

Tony had done his best to stay calm over the last few days, to carry on like normal, but it was hard. He had tried not to cry, tried not to dwell on any of it, but he’d obviously failed on both fronts. He couldn’t even finish his ice cream before the first tear slipped out, and now here he was, awake after a pretty intense nightmare, _without_ Steve, crying in the damn kitchen in the middle of the night.

He didn’t even hear Bucky enter the room, so he jumped when Bucky said “Are you okay?”

Tony hastily tried to brush away his tears, sucked in a harsh breath. “Jeez, Barnes, give a guy a warning, why don’t you? What are you doing up anyway?” he asked.

Bucky walked around the kitchen island so they were facing each other. “Came to get a snack,” he replied. He looked over Tony, took in the exhaustion on his face. Bucky hadn’t been sleeping well these last few days either. It was a combination of things, really, but the whole Steve situation certainly didn’t make it any easier. At least they could both relate to that.

There was a beat of silence, and Tony averted his eyes, ashamed that he’d been caught crying. He half expected Bucky to make fun of him, or to say something rude, but he was too tired for that. They both were.

“Things’ll go back to normal soon,” Bucky said finally, turning towards the fridge. He poured himself a glass of orange juice, started making himself a sandwich.

“How do you know?” Tony asked with a sigh. “Maybe it’ll never wear off. Maybe he’ll never love me again.” Just the thought of that had his throat going tight again.

“Because I know Steve,” he replied. “And I know how much you mean to him. The way he looks at you, the way he _feels_ for you…Steve’s been in love before, but not like this. I think it’ll take a lot more than some spell to make him forget that permanently.” Bucky took a sip of his juice. It was true. He didn’t remember everything about his life before the war, but he remembered enough. In the short time he’d been on the team, he could see the connection between Steve and Tony, and knew that Steve’s heart was set on Tony for good.

Tony had a hard time believing it. They’d only been together for seven months. He still woke up every day wondering if Steve would have enough, if he’d suddenly come to his senses and break up with Tony. But Bucky was Steve’s best friend, knew him better than most people, so maybe he was right. Maybe it would all be okay. That didn’t stop his heart from clenching though, from _yearning_.

“I just miss him,” Tony said softly. “I know he’s still here, obviously, but I miss _him_. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

“Well, maybe you could try to jog his memory.”

“It doesn’t work like that—This is magic!” Tony replied.

Bucky shook his head. “Well if it’s magic, then how do _you_ know how it works?”

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it closed. Damn. Maybe Barnes was right. Tony sighed in frustration. “Well, how am I supposed to jog his memory? You should’ve seen the look on his face when I called him ‘honey’ the other day. He definitely wasn’t into it.”

“Now I wasn’t here for all of this, so correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t it take you two _months_ to realize you liked each other?” Bucky asked, putting the finishing touches on his sandwich. Hearing how long it took either Steve or Tony to make a move hadn’t surprised him in the slightest—Steve was brave in all aspects of life except the romantic playing field. The blond had never even scored his own date when they were younger. Bucky always had to do it for him.

“Well, yeah,” Tony replied, and frowned at his melted ice cream. “But what if he doesn’t respond to it? What’s if I ruin our friendship?”

Bucky sighed. Tony’s never ending worrying and his penchant for self-doubt truly rivaled Steve’s. They were perfect for each other. “Look, that’s a risk you’ll have to take. Or don’t take it. I don’t know. Just stop crying about it why don’tcha?”

“I’m _not_ crying about it!” Tony insisted, squinting his eyes at Bucky. “I’m dealing with a situation where I don’t know all the variables and I’m trying to find the best way of dealing with it! I think it’s fair to be a little cautious.”

“Look—Be cautious all you want, but don’t come crying to me again. Can’t even sleep anymore, all I hear is your voice rattling around in my brain,” Bucky replied.

“I _didn_ ’ _t_ come crying to you. _I_ was here first, _you’re_ the one who interrupted my late night decompress.”

Hm. Just because Tony was technically right, didn’t mean Bucky had to agree. He narrowed his eyes at Tony, and Tony narrowed his back, and they stared at each other until Bucky broke off to take a bite of his sandwich. “Whatever. Don’t stay up too long. Finish your crying and go to bed,” he said, and moved to leave the kitchen.

Tony stared down into his bowl of ice cream soup and wondered when his life had come to this.

After tossing and turning all night, trying and failing to get comfortable, to sleep without Steve again, he thought maybe Bucky was right, and that he should take the leap. Tony got up early the next morning, way earlier than he ever wanted to, in an effort to catch Steve by himself before his morning run. He looked a little frazzled, and exhausted, because he was, but he didn’t think about any of that. He only thought about finding Steve, about trying to get him to see sense again, about trying to pull back the magic haze over his brain.

Tony caught sight of the blond heading towards the elevator, about to leave, and he called out “Steve!” before he could stop himself.

The blond turned to look at him, and his eyes widened in surprise, probably at the fact that Tony was awake so early. “Tony?”

Tony took swift steps across the foyer, stopped just short of Steve. His heart was beating erratically, his brain running a mile a minute, and suddenly, he couldn’t really think straight, just said exactly what came to mind.

“Look—I don’t really know how to come out and say this, and I’ve been thinking it over and over the last few hours when I couldn’t fucking sleep, but here goes—I love you Steve! I love you so damn much it hurts and I know you’re interested in Thor right now and you probably hate the thought of being with me and I just ruined our friendship but—“

Steve’s face scrunched up in confusion, and then amusement, and his hands braced Tony’s shoulders. “Sweetheart, we’ve been dating for seven months,” he said, cutting off the brunet’s words. “Did you hit your head or something and forget all of that?”

Tony blinked at him in disbelief. His mouth fell open, and a few aborted noises fell out, not entirely words. “I…No—But you were in love with Thor! You forgot all about us!”

The blond raised a brow, tilted his head. “Wait, what?”

“Don’t you remember any of that?” Tony asked, bracing his hands on Steve’s chest. “The last few days you’ve been head over heels for him! You got hurt on the last mission, and Thor had to heal you, and it was a side effect of his magic. Loki did something to him a long time ago that makes people fall in love with him if he heals them.”

It was Steve’s turn to blink. He tried to remember. Hell, he couldn’t really remember the last few days at all. He thought he remembered getting hurt, but everything after that was kind of fuzzy. Had he really fallen in love with Thor? What had he been doing the last few days?

Tony was looking at him with urgency in his eyes, and his skin was kind of red, the way it always was for hours after he’d been crying. Oh…

Steve brought a hand up, cupped his cheek. “I don’t remember it,” he admitted. “I don’t remember anything about it. God, I’m sorry,” he said. He knew Tony probably had a difficult time with it. Steve would have lost his mind if Tony, _his_ Tony, was suddenly in love with someone else. “It must’ve been really awful for you.”

Tony didn’t want to admit how bad it was, but he could feel his throat tightening a little. He sank further into Steve’s touch, closed his eyes. God, he’d missed it so much. “It was. It was only a few days but, fuck… Thinking I’d never get you back, that you’d never remember what we had… It really hurt.”

“You’ve got me,” Steve replied, and pulled Tony into a hug. “I’m yours, no one else’s. Not even magic could pull me away from you.”

“I _hate_ magic,” Tony muttered into his shoulder. “If there was time for anything else, I never would’ve agreed to it.”

“So you knew it would happen?” Steve asked.

Tony pulled back a little, grimaced. “I mean…Thor tried to tell me, but I was too stressed out to listen. You were dying, Steve. I didn’t care what the consequences were. I just wanted you to be okay.”

Steve’s face bloomed into a smile at that, and his eyes were soft and warm as they regarded Tony. He’d gone four days without Steve looking at him like that, and seeing it now gave Tony a sense of ease. He smiled back.

“I love you,” Steve said.

“I love you too,” Tony replied, his voice wavering a little. The excitement of all of it was catching up with him now. “Kiss me,” he said, and stood on his toes.

Steve obliged immediately, held him by the waist as Tony’s arms wrapped around his shoulders. He kissed him deeply, passionately, until they were both breathless, and Tony sunk back with a satisfied sigh.

“God, you have no idea how hard it was being unable to touch you,” the brunet admitted, pressing his forehead against Steve’s shoulder.

“I can imagine. Luckily, you can touch me all you want now,” Steve assured him, smiling softly. “I’ll need you to fill me in on the last week, though. I can’t really remember anything.”

Steve had a thought then. If he was in love with Thor, how did he act? Did he make a fool of himself? How did Thor take it? How did the _others_? Steve could feel the blush creep up on his cheeks, a sense of mortification setting in.

“Please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.”

“Nothing more stupid than your usual stupid,” Bucky’s voice called out from the kitchen. Tony and Steve jumped a little at his sudden interruption.

“God dammit, Barnes!” Tony grumbled as Bucky walked out of the kitchen, a fruit in hand. “Why are you in my kitchen again?”

“I’m a super soldier, in case you haven’t noticed,” Bucky replied. “I get hungry.”

“Somehow, I have a hard time believing you,” Tony replied, squinting his eyes.

He’d be right. Bucky wouldn’t admit it out loud, but of course he wanted to see the resolution of all this. After their talk in the kitchen, he knew Tony would try to talk to Steve, and he was curious to see it all play out. Luckily, it seemed everything had worked itself out.

“You don’t have to believe me,” Bucky replied. “Go on and hug your boyfriend again. He’s been crying to me all week,” he told Steve.

Steve huffed, amused. “You have?” he asked Tony.

Tony frowned a little, but nodded. “I just missed you,” he said, and pressed himself a little closer to Steve.

The blond grinned, kissed his cheek. “Well I’m here now.”

“I’ve learned my lesson, I guess,” Tony replied.

“And what lesson would that be?”

“Always read the fine print.” 


	2. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An expansion on the events of the 4 days Steve was under a spell.

Those few days without Steve at Tony’s side were practically torture. They really should be legally considered torture.

Steve and Tony had quite an involved schedule. They spent most of the day together, in one way or another: breakfast, going over plans and debriefs, weekly meetings with the UN, training sessions, lunch, dinner, “dessert” sometimes, and bed. The afternoon was usually reserved for Tony’s work with SI, or his time in the lab, and Steve painted or went out or stayed in and did whatever he wanted to do.

That being said, it was difficult to avoid each other, and equally difficult for Tony to pretend that he wasn’t desperately in love with Steve, that they hadn’t been together for more than half a year. Going from seeing each other, freely touching and kissing each other, back to polite stares and a foot of distance at all times was nothing short of a horrifying prospect, one Tony unfortunately had to endure.

Maybe a few years ago he would have been fine with it, had always distanced himself from others, preferred solitude once out of the eye of the public, but nowadays, after so much had happened in his life, Steve’s presence, his love, offered a kind of comfort that Tony desperately needed, and could hardly stand to be without. With the magic situation, he had to seek it from others. ‘Others,’ unfortunately, turned out to be Bucky.

First, Tony started hanging around him, staying in the same room as him, sitting next to him at meal times instead of his usual spot by Steve’s side. Steve’s attention, naturally, was almost exclusively on Thor, except when engaging in conversation or planning. If he noticed anything about the new seating arrangement, he didn’t say anything, at least, not to Tony.

Bucky, thankfully, didn’t say anything either. He didn’t necessarily mind Tony’s presence, but occasionally, it could get overwhelming. Tony was simply a strong presence, in whatever mood he was in, and sometimes Bucky needed time to recharge to be around him. This week, it seemed, he wouldn’t get that opportunity. He only complained about it a little. After all, he understood that this whole magic situation wasn’t easy on the scientist.

That wasn’t to say he couldn’t question it though. After all, there were plenty of other people on the team, and sure, some of them weren’t as readily available as Bucky usually was, but wasn’t there somebody, _anybody_ , Tony could find to occupy his free time? Apparently not.

Maybe Tony just found distraction in their particular dynamic, the quips they would exchange, the occasional teasing. Either way, Bucky didn’t know exactly what to think when Tony’s clinginess was directed towards him. Tony was _clingy_ , with a capitol C. Bucky had never noticed just how clingy until the team ended up in the living room on the 1st night, watching a movie. Steve sat down by Thor immediately, so Tony, trying to hide his disappointment and jealousy, plopped down next to Bucky in the back row of the small but luxurious screening room in the Tower.

The movie was pretty long, one of Nat’s picks, that Tony didn’t particularly enjoy, so he had nothing to focus on except staring at the back of Steve’s head, frowning to himself whenever the blond engaged Thor in quiet conversation, offered to share his popcorn when Thor’s ran out. Somehow, throughout the course of the film, Tony invaded Bucky’s space more and more, until eventually he let out an annoyed sigh and dropped his head on Bucky’s shoulder, and when Bucky didn’t pull away, he went a step further, and linked their arms, clung to him like a koala on a tree.

Somehow that became a habit. Despite Bucky’s half-hearted protests, and the little arguments they had about it, Tony wasn’t deterred.

Bucky knew he was in for the long haul when the next afternoon, around the time that Steve and Tony would normally spend time together, Tony, looking surprisingly exhausted, found Bucky on his way out of the kitchen and pressed his face into the super soldier’s back, linked his arms around his midsection.

Bucky stiffened up. “The hell are you doing?” he asked, kind of annoyed.

“Shut up,” Tony replied. “Just let me—just real quick.”

“And why?”

Tony pulled back a little. “I just—I need the contact,” he said quietly. “It makes me feel better.”

Bucky supposed that was fair. He had quite a few grounding techniques of his own, introduced to him by his therapists. As far as he knew Tony didn’t have a therapist, because he was too stubborn to go see one, so it didn’t surprise him that his clinginess towards Steve, and now, himself, was some sort of coping mechanism. He sighed a little, and turned around, let Tony hug him properly.

“Thanks,” Tony said, and held on a little tighter.

“Don’t make it a regular thing,” Bucky replied, but he gently patted Tony’s shoulder nonetheless. “Just because Steve’s currently occupied doesn’t mean you can become my parasite.”

“Wow. You know I pay for all of your stuff, right?” Tony replied.

“And?”

Tony pulled back, squinted up at him. “You have no respect, do you?”

“None whatsoever,” Bucky replied. “Now let go, I’m going to the gym.”

The scientist frowned a little, but relinquished his grasp, took a step back.

Bucky moved to the door, and when he turned, Tony was still standing there, looking a little lost, like he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. It was kind of pathetic, but he supposed being that deep in love, having the subject of your love ripped away from you suddenly, would do that to you. Bucky watched him for a moment, standing there in all his pitiful glory.

“You can come with me, you know,” he said.

Tony gladly took the invitation.

It was only a little (a lot) awkward when Steve ended up coming to the gym a while after they’d been there, and asked to spar with Bucky. Tony had been spotting Bucky as he lifted weights (as if he really needed it, or as if Tony could actually lift the weights he was working with if something went wrong) and was telling a pretty long story, that Bucky, thankfully, seemed willing to listen to, even if Tony could feel himself rambling.

Seeing Steve enter the room though, having to remind himself that he couldn’t touch, couldn’t talk to him like he normally could, put an immediate damper on Tony’s mood, and his voice dropped off. He tried to put on a smile, gave an excuse about having paperwork to do for Pepper, and left the gym.

Steve only seemed minorly confused, and unbothered. Bucky, on the other hand, let out a preparatory sigh, knowing that his ears were about to trade out Tony’s complaints and long stories for Steve’s new obsession with Thor.

The rest of the team obviously noticed Tony’s shift in attention, but said nothing of it. The whole situation was weird to begin with, they didn’t really want to get into any discussions about it. It was much easier to pretend that everything was normal until the spell was broken and Steve and Tony were together again.

Bucky endured Tony’s clinginess, and despite the bristly way they talked to each other, he was clearly grateful for the companionship, and that Bucky allowed him to get his fix of cuddles. Clint teased Bucky about it at one point, after he caught sight of Tony napping curled up next to Bucky on the couch, but the murderous glare he got in return shut him up pretty quick.

It was the third night when Bucky really wished the whole ordeal was over. He’d gone to Steve’s room to ask him for help with something, when the blond completely blindsided him.

“Are you and Tony…?”

Bucky raised a brow. “Are we…?”

“Are you two dating? It’s totally fine if you are. I just, you guys seem really close all of a sudden. Maybe I just haven’t been paying close attention.”

Bucky almost choked on his spit. “ _Dating_? Me and Stark? Fuck no,” he replied. The very thought….

Steve raised a brow, shrugged a little. “Okay. I just—I just thought. Sorry.”

Bucky shook his head. “I don’t have the patience to even try and date that. He’s just clingy, is all.”

Steve seemed unconvinced. He thought maybe Bucky was hiding his feelings for Tony, that Steve would think it weird or something, or that it’d add pressure to Steve and Tony’s tenuous friendship. “Right…” he replied.

“Why?” Bucky asked. “Are you interested in him or something?” Just because Steve was under a spell, didn’t mean his true feelings disappeared entirely, right? Maybe he _did_ feel something for Tony, but his magicked brain was tricking him into thinking Thor was the better option.

“No,” Steve replied, looking down at the floor. “No, I just… We’ve never been on the best of terms, but it feels like he’s ignoring me, or avoiding me. In favor of you.”

Bucky couldn’t help but smirk a little then. Maybe there _was_ still a little something there under the haze of the magic. “You jealous, Stevie?” 

The blond shook his head, scoffed a little. “Nah. I was just wondering if I did something wrong or something. That’s all.”

Damn. “Hm,” Bucky replied. He didn’t know what else to say to that.

“Ugh,” Tony groaned the next morning when Bucky told him about it. “He really thought we were _dating_? I don’t know how to fucking take that.”

“Me neither,” Bucky replied. “I can’t wait for this whole mess to be over with.”

Tony brushed a hand through his hair, frowned at the floor. “That makes two of us.”

They were both silent for a moment, and Tony’s frown only deepened. He lifted a hand, grasped at the air. “I just…”

“You miss him. _I know_ ,” Bucky said, crossing his arms. “You’ve said that at least a hundred times over the last few days.”

“Well can you blame me?” Tony sighed. “I—I love him. I love him so damn much. I don’t know how to be without him.”

As annoying as Tony’s clinginess, his constant chattering was, Bucky knew his feelings were earnest, and it was nice, knowing that Tony really loved Steve like that. It was nice knowing that his best friend was with someone who truly adored him, who’d never purposefully hurt him. He was glad Steve and Tony had found each other.

“It’s just a few more days. Just tough it out, and everything will go back to normal,” Bucky reassured him, and gave him a little nod.

Thankfully, Bucky had been right in the end.

When things went back to normal, and Tony _finally_ had Steve to himself again, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of gratitude, for how Bucky had dealt with him during the week. Tony knew he wasn’t easy to be around, in any case, but certainly not in a situation like the one they had just been in, and he mentioned it to Steve that night, when they were snuggled up in bed.

“I’m glad Buck was there for you,” Steve said, gently brushing a hand through Tony’s hair. “He’s always been there for me. I’m glad that extends to you now too.”

“Yeah,” Tony replied, and closed his eyes, sank into Steve’s touch. “Yeah I’m…I’m pretty lucky.”

“I think I’m the lucky one,” Steve said, and leaned over, pressed a kiss to his lips. “That you still love me after seeing me follow someone else around like a lovesick school girl for half a week.”

Tony smiled softly, eyes reverent as he regarded his boyfriend. “I’ll always love you,” he replied. “Always.”

Steve’s heart jumped at that. “I’ll always love you too. Even magic won’t change that,” he said.

“Ugh,” Tony sighed, and snuggled up closer to Steve. “Let’s never say the ‘M’ word again.”

The blond laughed a little. “Agreed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this!


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